Jurnal Titik Imaji

Abstract

Mental health is an issue that has received increasing attention and is frequently represented through various forms of media, including film. As a medium of visual communication, film has the ability to convey characters’ psychological experiences through visual elements that construct meaning and emotion. Naoko Yamada’s A Silent Voice addresses mental health issues through the experiences of loneliness, social isolation, guilt, social anxiety, and psychological recovery experienced by its characters. This study aims to analyze the representation of mental health issues through visual storytelling in A Silent Voice. This research employs a qualitative method using Roland Barthes’ semiotic approach, which consists of three levels of meaning: denotation, connotation, and myth. The research data consist of nine scenes selected based on their relevance to the representation of mental health. The analysis focuses on various visual storytelling elements, including composition, framing, camera angles, color, lighting, symbols, visual space, and character gestures. The findings indicate that the representation of mental health in the film is constructed through the use of various visual elements that consistently depict the psychological conditions of the characters. Loneliness and social isolation are represented through the dominance of negative space, the separation of characters within the frame, and the use of cross-mark symbols covering other people's faces. Meanwhile, guilt, social anxiety, and emotional vulnerability are conveyed through visual composition, body language, and recurring symbols throughout the narrative. The process of psychological recovery is represented through the development of interpersonal relationships, nonverbal communication, and gradually increasing social connectedness. The findings demonstrate that visual storytelling plays an important role in communicating mental health issues empathetically, enabling audiences to understand the characters’ psychological experiences without relying solely on verbal dialogue.

Keywords: visual storytelling, Roland Barthes semiotics, mental health, A Silent Voice, representation.

Abstract

Kesehatan mental merupakan isu yang semakin mendapat perhatian dan sering direpresentasikan melalui berbagai media, termasuk film. Sebagai media komunikasi visual, film memiliki kemampuan untuk menyampaikan pengalaman psikologis karakter melalui elemen-elemen visual yang membangun makna dan emosi. Film A Silent Voice karya Naoko Yamada mengangkat isu kesehatan mental melalui pengalaman kesepian, isolasi sosial, rasa bersalah, kecemasan sosial, serta proses pemulihan psikologis yang dialami para karakternya. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis representasi isu kesehatan mental melalui visual storytelling dalam film A Silent Voice. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif dengan pendekatan semiotika Roland Barthes yang mencakup tiga tingkat pemaknaan, yaitu denotasi, konotasi, dan mitos. Data penelitian berupa sembilan scene yang dipilih berdasarkan relevansinya dengan representasi kesehatan mental. Analisis dilakukan terhadap berbagai elemen visual storytelling, seperti komposisi, framing, sudut kamera, warna, pencahayaan, simbol, ruang visual, dan gestur karakter. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa representasi kesehatan mental dalam film dibangun melalui penggunaan berbagai elemen visual yang secara konsisten menggambarkan kondisi psikologis karakter. Kesepian dan isolasi sosial direpresentasikan melalui dominasi negative space, pemisahan karakter dalam frame, serta penggunaan simbol tanda silang pada wajah orang lain. Sementara itu, rasa bersalah, kecemasan sosial, dan kerentanan emosional ditampilkan melalui komposisi visual, bahasa tubuh, dan simbol-simbol yang muncul sepanjang narasi. Proses pemulihan psikologis direpresentasikan melalui perubahan hubungan antarkarakter, komunikasi nonverbal, serta keterhubungan sosial yang berkembang secara bertahap. Temuan penelitian menunjukkan bahwa visual storytelling berperan penting dalam menyampaikan isu kesehatan mental secara empatik, sehingga membantu audiens memahami pengalaman psikologis karakter tanpa bergantung sepenuhnya pada dialog verbal.

Kata kunci: visual storytelling, semiotika Roland Barthes, kesehatan mental, A Silent Voice, representasi.

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